Competition 2021

At the age of seventeen, Annemarie Federle won the Brass Category Final of the 2020 BBC Young Musician competition. She went on to secure a place at the Final at Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, where she performed Ruth Gipps Horn Concerto with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Mark Wigglesworth, broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and 4.

This season she performs as soloist with National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, European Union Chamber Orchestra, London Repertoire Orchestra, among others. Recent highlights include performances of both Strauss Horn Concertos, Mozart Horn Concerto No. 4 and Gordon Jacob Horn Concerto.

Originally from Cambridge, Annemarie studies the French Horn on a full scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music with Richard Watkins and David Pyatt, as well as the natural horn with Roger Montgomery. She has recently participated in masterclasses with Radovan Vlatkovic and Katy Woolley as well as a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 with the Academy String Orchestra.

A keen chamber musician, she joined National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain in 2017 and was subsequently Principal Horn for two years, working with conductors including Marin Alsop and Sir Mark Elder. She was also a member of Aldeburgh Young Musicians and Britten Sinfonia Academy for three years.

Annemarie is grateful to the Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) for their generous support in their aftercare scheme for BBC Young Musician Finalists.

Francesco Mattioli was born in 1994. At the age of sixteen he obtained his horn diploma with the highest marks at the "Licinio Refice" Conservatory of Music in Frosinone with Mauro Verdozzi. He continued his studies with M° Guido Corti at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole.

Between 2013 and 2015 he played with the Orchestra Giovanile Italiana and the Orchestra giovanile "Luigi Cherubini" conducted by Riccardo Muti. In the same years, he was admitted to the European Youth Orchestra (EUYO) and the Verbier Festival Orchestra.

Between 2015 and 2018 Francesco completed his studies in Zurich at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, obtaining a Master in "Specialized Orchester Performance" in collaboration with the Opernhaus Zürich with Radovan Vlatkovic.

Winner of auditions for solo horn at the orchestra of the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa and the Orchestra Haydn di Bolzano e Trento, he has also collaborated as with other renowned orchestras, including the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai, the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London.

Since 2019, he is solo horn at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples.

Jonas Gira was born in Illertissen in 2001 and grew up in a musical family. At the age of 5, he started learning the piano and at 7, he received his first horn lessons at the local music school. From 2012 to 2018, he was taught by Ulrich Köbl (former horn player of the Munich Philharmonic and the Munich Radio Orchestra) in Kempten. At the age of 16, Jonas first became a junior student and in 2020, after graduating from high school, a regular student in the horn class of Prof. Christian Lampert at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart.

He has received additional musical support and instruction from Prof. Johannes Hinterholzer, Prof. Carsten Duffin, Prof. Thomas Hauschild and Jan Golebiowski, among others.

At the age of 10, Jonas Gira already won the first prize at the state level in the competition “Jugend musiziert”, as well as further first prizes in solo and ensemble competitions in “Jugend musiziert” at regional, state and national levels in 2015, 2017 and 2018, including the highest score of 25 points eight times in a row. For this he has received twice, the special prize from the “Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben”.

Jonas Gira has already gained numerous orchestral experiences as a member of the “Schwäbisches Jugendsinfonieorchester” and the “Bayerisches Landesjugendorchester”, as well as through several temporary positions with the “ATTACCA Jugendorchester” of the Bavarian State Orchestra. He has also taken part in international concert tours to Japan, Italy, Austria and Ukraine, among other countries. In addition, he has been a member of the “Attacca Brass Quintett” since its foundation in 2016, which has been one of the scholarship holders of the “Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben” since 2018.

Gianni Bergamo was born in Milan, Italy in 1941, attended primary school in Italy and Liceo in Switzerland. After a degree in Economy (1964) at the Catholic University of Milan, he dedicated himself to the study of music with Tissoni (harmony and composition), D. Maffeis (organ) and N. Sanzogno (orchestra conducting) at the Conservatory of Bergamo, Italy.
From 1964 to 1994 has been a businessman with his own import-export, real estate and finance companies, though at the same time he has remained close to music and to its world.
In 1990 he created the Cultural Association “Gli Amici Cantori”, first as a chorus alone, then later accompanied by an orchestra. He has given many concerts in Italy with them, preferring the symphonic-sacred repertoire (masses, oratories, passions, etc.). At present, he lives in Santiago del Chile.

Alessio Allegrini is the solo principal horn of the Orchestra of the Academy of Santa Cecilia in Rome. He also is the solo first horn of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and of the Mozart Orchestra founded by Claudio Abbado.

At the age of 22, he was chosen by Riccardo Muti as the solo horn of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. He was the first guest horn in prestigious international orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.

Winner of important international awards and prizes, including the Prague Spring Competition and the A.R.D. competition Munich, he has performed solo concerts under the direction of illustrious conductors such as: Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Muti, Myung-whun Chung, Jeffrey Tate and Antonio Pappano. His intense chamber activity saw him collaboration with exceptional musicians such as Salvatore Accardo, Ian Bostridge and Antonio Pappano himself, with whom he recently performed the European first of Eliott Carter’s Horn Concerto, at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome.

As a teacher, he is often invited to hold mastersclasses in important Academies and European Universities, including the Royal Academy of Music (where he is still visiting professor), the Royal College of Music, the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London, the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, as well as prestigious Universities of Latin America and Japan.

As a conductor, Allegrini performed accompanying internationally renowned soloists such as Maria João Pires, Hélène Grimaud, Isabelle Faust, Ilya Gringolts and is regularly invited to conduct various orchestras, including the Hamburger Symphoniker (where he debuted replacing Mr. Tate), the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Palestrina Symphonic Opera House in Cagliari, the Marchigiana Philharmonic Orchestra. In February 2019 he made his debut with the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne conducting music by Ludwig van Beethoven.

His commitment to social work sees him active in various parts of the world in support of projects aimed at improving the society through music education: he offers his contribution to the Orquesta Juvenil Simón Bolívar in Venezuela and is the founder of the “Musicians for Human Rights” movement that deals with spreading and promoting the culture of Human Rights through music. He is also artistic and musical director of the Human Rights Orchestra.

He has also collaborated with sociologist Shizuo Matsumoto in an exchange project between Japanese and Italian culture, with Ramzi Aberdwan, a Palestinian musician who experienced the brutalities of the first intifada, and with Emergency. In 2006 he received from the Exodus Foundation of Don Mazzi the “National Prize the House of the Arts” for having been able to combine professional commitment and lifestyle.

His discography includes 3 Deutsche Grammophon CDs.

Allegrini also participated in two documentary films: ” L’altra voce della musica. In viaggio con Claudio Abbado tra Caracas e l’Avana (The other voice of music. Travelling with Claudio Abbado between Caracas and Havana)” and “L’orchestra (The Orchestra)” with Claudio Abbado.

He is the solo horn of the Bern Symphony Orchestra, the Kammerorchester Basel and the Gstaad Festival Orchestra.

Born in Bern in 1974, he grew up in a musical family. In his hometown he graduated first in cello with Patrick Demenga and Peter Hörr, and in 1996 in horn with Thomas Müller and David Johnson. He then graduated with Bruno Schneider in 1998, and also specialized in natural horn at Schola Cantorum Basiliensis.

He performs as a soloist (also with natural horn) with orchestras such as the Philharmonia Zürich, the Moscow Symphony, the Moscow State Philharmonic, the Tokyo Sinfonietta, the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra, the Bucharest Radio Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestre de Bretagne, the Philharmonique de Liége, the Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie, the Bern and Bienne Symphony Orchestras, the Zurich and Basel Chamber Orchestras, the Camerata Bern conducted by personalities such as Schiff, Kitajenko, Holliger, McCreesh, Luisi, Venzago and Sakari. He also is also intensely active in chamber music in various formations and with musicians such as Joshua Bell, Patricia Kopatchinskaya, Mischa Maisky, Sol Gabetta, Daniil Trifonov, Christian Zacharias, Konstantin Lifschitz, Christoph Prégardien, Mark Padmore and the Ensemble Raro, with which he performs in Europe, Russia, the United States, Asia and Australia.

He was invited to festivals such as Lucerne Festival, Menuhin-Festival Gstaad, Rheingau, Verbier, Kuhmo, Berlin (Festwochen e March Musik), Présences Paris, Radio France Montpellier, Oxford Chamber Music Festival, Muséiques Basel, Barossa Valley, Haydn-Festspiele Eisenstadt, Grafenegg, Wratislawia Cantans, Boswiler Sommer, Interlaken Classics, Davos, Ittingen, Meiringen, Mozartfest Zürich

He also pays particular attention to the contemporary repertoire with the Collegium Novum Zürich and the Ensemble Contrechamps (Geneva) as well as to baroque and classical music with natural horn collaborating with ensembles such as the Bach Collegium Japan and the Tafelmusik Orchestra Toronto.

Several composers dedicated him solo and ensemble pieces. In 2006 he performed the premiere at the Lucerne Festival of Heinz Holliger’s duo “Induuchlen” for natural horn and countertenor.

He is professor at the Haute Ecole de Musique in Lausanne and at the Lucerne Academy of Music. He holds masterclasses and workshops in several European countries.

He has recorded CDs for Challenge Records, Grammont, ECM, CPO, Cascavelle and Divox.  In 2017 he was awarded the Diapason d’Or de l’année for Mozart/Beethoven piano quintets with the Freitagsakademie Bern.

Born in Oviedo (Spain), he begins his studies in the Conservatorio Profesional de Música of the same city. In 2008 he enters the National Youth Orchestra of Spain (JONDE) and in 2011 the European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO).

In 2008 he is also awarded his degree in music (Grado Superior), with high honors, at “Musikene” (Centro Superior de Música del País Vasco), under the guidance of Prof. Rodolfo Epelde.

From 2008 to 2010 he studied at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid, where his professor Radovan Vlatkovic chose him to be awarded with a full scholarship as the “Most Outstanding Student of the Horn Studio ”. He received also artistic encouragement from such renowned musicians as Hermann Baumann, Radek Baborak, or Richard Watkings among others.

During 2011-2012 he was a scholar of the Berliner Staatskapelle under Daniel Barenboim.

He has collaborated as Solo-Horn with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Berliner Staatskapelle, Münchner Philharmoniker, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Bamberger Symphoniker, Norddeutsches Philharmonie de Rostock, Komische Oper Berlin, Orchestra Filarmónica della Scala, Orchestre de Chambre de Caen, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, Orquesta de la Comunidad Valenciana – Palau de les Arts, Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, playing under the baton of Zubin Mehta, Daniel Barenboim, Claudio Abbado, Gustavo Dudamel, Daniel Harding, Simon Rattle, Valery Gergiev, Daniele Gatti o Ricardo Chailly among others.

He has performed as soloist the concerto for two horns and orchestra by A. Vivaldi, concerto no.4 by W.A.Mozart, Concerto no.1 by R. Strauss and the Schumann´s Konzerstück.

Since the year 2012 he is Solo-Horn of the Teatro alla Scala Milano, and from 2010 of the West Eastern Divan, both conducted by Maestro Daniel Barenboim.

As a solo trumpet, he played with the main Italian orchestras: Filarmonica della Scala, RAI di Milano e di Torino, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Teatro San Carlo in Naples, La Fenice in Venice. He was the first entitled trumpet of the Teatro dell’Opera di Genova, of the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana (Lugano) and currently holds the same position at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. At the same time, he carries out an intense solo activity playing with various orchestras with which he has made radio and television recordings.

He has playd concerts in Italy and Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, India and Peru.

As a soloist he participated in the staging of two operas for the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, among which the world premiere of Salvatore Sciarrino’s “Lohengrin”. He recently took part, as a soloist, in the concert and television production of Bach’s “Mass in Si minor” conducted by Riccardo Muti.

Francesco Tamiati is very committed to chamber music both in duo with pianist Fulvio Bottega or organist Giuseppe Radini, and with several chamber groups including “Carme Ensemble”, “Ensemble E. Varèse”, “Next time ensemble”, “I solisti della Scala”. He is also a founding member of the “Italian Brass Quintet” and the “Italian Brass Ensemble”. His experience in the pedagogical field is extensive: Tamiati was trunpet professor at the Conservatories “G. Cantelli” of Novara and “G.F. Ghedini” of Cuneo and has held masterclasses in Italy (Conservatory “G. Nicolini” of Piacenza and “Accademia Paolo Chimieri” of Rovato together with renowned soloists such as Fabrizio Meloni, Francesco Di Rosa, Alessio Allegrini) as well as in India and Peru.

He is also professor at the orchestral masteclasses organized by the Musical Banquet Associazione Banchetto Musicale in Capezzano Pianore and of the “Accademia Internazionale di Musica Giovanni Carisio” in Santhià. He is trumpet professor at the Conservatory of Italian Switzerland.

Born in Vercelli in 1965, he studied at the “A. Vivaldi” Conservatory in Alessandria with Luigi Sechi, graduating in 1984 with the highest marks. At a young age he started his concert activity, before even finishing his studies (between 1980 and 1981) he won several regional competitions including the first prize in Stresa, Turin and Alessandria, as well as the first range at the “Rotary International Youth Orchestra” competition.

He then completed his studies by attending master classes with trumpet soloists from major orchestras: Armando Ghitalla (Boston Symphony Orchestra), John Wallace (Philharmonia Orchestra of London), Hannes Läubin (Bayrische Rundfunk Orchester), Philip Smith (New York Philharmonic).